There are both advantages and disadvantages in using an employee referral campaign (ERC) for recruiting staff members. A clear advantage is that a new candidate is brought to the notice of the management by an incumbent employee. And if the reputation of the incumbent worker is impressive, it can then be taken as a rough…
How important are cultural and national identities for an individual?
Our cultural and national identities play an important role in the formation of our individual identities. While care must be taken to not stereotype people based on their ethnicities/nationalities/gender identities, such attributes do contribute to defining personal identities of people. In the case of a country such as the United States, the exercise of locating…
Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior by Amy Chua
A few parenting styles have been identified by psychologists. First, there is the Authoritative type, where parents are responsive to their children’s wishes and interests while also demand high standards from them in return. A stricter style of parenting is the Authoritarian type, where parents expect a lot from their children while disregarding their children’s…
The slacker genre and post-modern condition in the films Before Sunrise and Before Sunset
Those movies categorized under the Slacker genre break away from conventional Hollywood style in many respects. The very term ‘Slacker’ is taken after a Richard Linklater movie of the same name released in 1991. Made as an experimental project, the film became a cult classic and impressed the critics as well. It is not often…
What is litigation public relations, and what are its pro and cons?
Litigation public relations (LPR) are the set of communication activities that a company undertakes during the process of a litigation. The core objective of litigation public relations is to reduce damage to the image of the company; and this objective is usually achieved through skilful handling of media and a positive portrayal of the company’s…
What are the elements of a good crisis communications plan?
Crisis occurs in all organizations and hence there should be a robust crisis response plan in place to deal with it. A key component of the crisis response plan (usually implemented by the Emergency Response Team) is to draw up a Crisis Communications Plan (CCP) either in anticipation of a crisis or in the wake…
Love in Human Relationships: A Survey of three Literary Works
The three literary pieces being referred for this essay all deal with human emotions, especially that of love (or lack thereof). But their portrayal is far from homogeneous. In the poem To My Dear And Loving Husband by Anne Bradstreet, there is little doubt as to the total and unconditional love displayed by the lady…
The Future is Personalized Medicine
Personalized Medicine (PM) is thought to be the next major advancement in the provision of healthcare. Once hospitals and healthcare practitioners acquaint themselves with evolving technologies in pharmacogenomics, pharmacogenetics, metabolomics, etc, they will be able to offer more effective services to the patients. For example, under this impending healthcare revolution, patients will be able to…
Media and Popular Culture in China
During his Southern Tour to the Special Economic Zones in South China in 1992 to accelerate market reforms in the aftermath of Tiananmen bloodshed, the paramount Chinese leader advised the party state, “Guard against the Right, but primarily against the Left.” How do you make sense of Deng’s warning against the leftist political thought and…
Comparing Qur’anic and Biblical Depictions of Abraham
As many as 50 characters who appear in the Holy Bible also appear in the Holy Qur’an. This includes that of Abraham, Issac and Ismael as well. The Qur’an, having appeared seven centuries after the Holy Bible, believed by Muslims to be the more authoritative text. Consequently, there are many differences between the stories of…